Free Paint Project

***Disclaimer-This post was originally started in June of 2012. I only recently finished getting all of the after pictures and putting all of the finishing touches on this post. Last summer when I had my third child and started working on my master's degree I had no idea what I was getting myself into! I have had to learn to say no to additional commitments, loosen some of my expectations on myself regarding housekeeping and manage extra hours away from home to take classes and finish school work while working full time and being the primary caretaker for my family. While the past year has been very challenging, it has also been amazing! I am so proud of all that I have accomplished and feel so empowered that I can do anything I put my mind to. With three years left until I finish my degree, I still have a long road ahead of me, but know that all the struggles will be worth it when I finally become a school counselor.***

When I saw the commercials advertising a free quart of Clark and Kensington paint from True Value, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. The paint giveaway occured on a day that I was in Dubuque visiting my family, so I begged my mom to go with me. When we arrived the gentleman at the paint counter told me that the free paint was an interior flat paint and that they only had dark base left. Though I wanted a gloss or semi-gloss, the flat would work. And I wanted black, so the dark base was perfect. They mixed me up a quart of their color "Ace of Spades" and I was on my way. Since moving into our home almost three years ago, I have wanted to paint the buffet and hutch in our dining room. I bought the buffet at Goodwill several years ago for around $40 and loved it. Unfortunately when we moved the buffet did not fare very well and wound up scratched and a little worse for the wear. Being as the buffet is made of particle board and not solid wood, it looked more shabby than chic.

I took the buffet apart and gave it a light sanding so that the paint would have something to stick to. Then gave it two light coats of paint and finished it off with a coat of poly. We also added a new back to give the buffet a little more stability. After putting it back together I could not stop starring at what looked like a brand new piece of furniture. Even my husband, who was a bit skeptical, could not believe how good it looked!

After the buffet turned out so well, I could not wait to get started on the hutch. I purchased the hutch off of Craigslist for around $100 after moving into our house.

The hardware was a bit dated and it was also a little worse for the wear, but two coats of paint and a coat of poly made her look brand new again! I also removed the decorative brass, choosing only to keep the hardware necessary to open the doors.

Though I love the look of both pieces, I decided during the process that refinishing furniture is not for me! While painting the furniture I had the contents of both cabinets scattered all over my dining room and kitchen, making cooking and cleaning very difficult. The amount of time required to refinish the cabinets was also difficult for me as I have very little patience. I had difficulty waiting the appropriate amount of time to let the paint set well before doing another coat. Though the cabinets look great, I can notice some imperfections in the paint job, such as places that did not get even coverage or places where the paint had not fully dried before I tried adding another coat. I used a foam brush to add the poly to the hutch and wish that I would have waited to purchase another brush. I feel that the foam brush left more visible marks and lines in the poly. Finally, there was a lot of hardware with the cabinet and I wish that I would have separated the hardware to lessen the headaches I had with putting it back together! I learned a lot for the next time that I attempt to refinish something, but I think that it will be a long time before I decide to do something like this again!

Nesting Overdrive

I have been off of work for a full week and I was determined to keep active rather than relaxing with my feet propped up. Now that I am at 38 weeks, my thoughts are that keeping active will encourage the baby to make his or her appearance sooner rather than later!
Monday was Memorial Day and we spent most of the day hanging out at my in-laws pool. It was great to be able to play with the kids, but be able to relax and stay cool at the same time.
While the kids napped on Tuesday, I started going around the house gathering items that I plan to sell at a garage sale later this summer. During the cleanout of my craft room, I came across 2 scrap pieces of fleece that were perfect for a project I pinned on Pinterest. I pinned this tutorial for car seat pillows several months ago and with a lot of travelling planned this summer, I really wanted to complete this project. The instructions were very easy to follow and I would have had both pillows done in one naptime, but I did not have velcro on hand.
Wednesday, my husband was out of town, so I tried to take it easy, I didn't want to go into labor when he was several hours away. I worked on school work for my summer class while the kids played outside. That evening we went to town and ran a few errands, to purchase supplies to work on a few projects on my to do list. We also purchased and put together a few deck boxes to store our patio cushions in.
Thursday was rainy and gray. Rather than sit around the house watching movies and tv, I pulled out the gallon of oops paint that I finally purchased for my son's room and got to work. You can see a before of the room here. I took time off that afternoon to go to the doctor and received the disappointing news that I was not even close to going into labor. That renewed my energy to finish the painting that evening after dinner!
Friday, I finished painting my son's room and then took the kids to walk around the zoo. We walked for at least 2 hours before heading home for lunch. While the kids napped that afternoon, I worked on cleaning the house. That evening we went out to dinner and a party to celebrate my father-in-law's 15 years of service.
Saturday we attended my daughter's last soccer practice/game and then spent several hours running errands and getting groceries. That evening I spent several hours in the kitchen preparing 5 loves of stromboli. We planned to take some out on the boat with us the next day and then I figured that we would have a few loaves prepared for meals while I was in the hospital or soon after I got home.
Sunday morning I woke up before Randy and the kids and decided to take advantage of the time to work on another Pinterest project. I pinned this nursing cover project several weeks ago and decided to go ahead and complete one with a blue checkered fabric that I had on hand. Though we are not sure what we are having, I think that the pattern is kind of feminine even though the colors may be more masculine. The cotton fabric that I had was light and see through and therefore not so well suited for a nursing cover, so I ended up lining the whole cover with a white cotton fabric. We then spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat at the beach. Thankfully, the kids were happy to splash and play in the sand while I sat back and relaxed. After eating a quick dinner and bathing both kids, we were all in bed by 9pm. It was a crazy busy week, but with our third child due in about a week, things are only going to get crazier!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Things sure have been busy in our neck of the woods, and they are not about to slow down, even after the 4th of July holiday weekend. In the past two weeks I have worked on several small projects between spending lots of time with my family. You might want to have a snack or something to drink, this could be a long one!

I put our summer to do list up on our chalkboard (like Andi's from Jane of all Crafts) so that we could keep track of all of the things that we want to do/have done this summer. Since I am able to stay home during the summer months I want to spend some quality time doing things with the kids that we usually don't have time/don't make time for. The items on our list are also great opportunities for learning about and exploring our surroundings. The John Deere Expo in Moline, IL was a huge hit with the kids! They spent about an hour climbing on and off of all of the tractors on display. It was the perfect activity for a rainy day because most of the tractor models are displayed indoors and it is completely free, unless you walk into the gift shop full of toy tractors and John Deere paraphernalia.

We also purchased a membership to and visited our local zoo for the first time.


The vinyl that I purchased for my living room photo wall was a complete fail. The vinyl did not stick well at all on our textured walls. I was able to save the quote by covering over it with mod podge. The decorative scrolls simply kept falling off of the wall even with the addition of mod podge. So I attached the vinyl to a paper shopping bag and cut it out using a craft knife. I then traced the shape onto the wall and hand painted the scrolls.



After fixing the vinyl in the living room, we did a little bit of relaxing by the pool.


We are so fortunate that my in-laws have a pool in their backyard. It is so convenient and nice to have a private quiet place to cool off and relax without fighting the crowds.

After a refreshing swim, I worked on updating our kitchen by giving several items a coat of glossy black spray paint. We received the spice rack, knife block, cup holder, paper towel holder and utensil container for our wedding almost a decade ago.


I was tired of the wood tones and decided to paint them all black.



Did you see all of those little white plastic squares on my kitchen countertops? No they are not the latest kitchen design trend, rather they are to try to control a little problem that we have in our house every summer: ANTS! No matter how obsessively I clean and try to keep the kids eating and drinking only at the table, we have had a problem with ants both of the years we have lived in this house. Our neighbor recommended a pest control company which I called and had do a fumigation. Unfortunately, the fumigation was not as effective as I would have hoped. They told me in advance that ants come in the house to find a dry enviroment, but it has not rained here in about 2 weeks. Do any of you have any ideas for getting rid of ants?

During the weekend of the 4th of July, we spent a lot of time on the good ol' muddy Mississppi. We have had about as many boats as we have had houses, but since purchasing our pontoon boat, we have spent even more time on the river and especially at the local beach.




Finally, I created button bracelets for my daughter and I, using buttons that I had on hand.

The buttons are simply sewn onto a piece of elastic. The possibilities for these are absolutely endless!

Whew! I am tired, but I just realized today that school supplies are filling the store shelves, which means that summer is coming to a close. I only have about 6 weeks left to enjoy being a stay at home mommy before going back to work for the school year. So there will be no rest for the weary and we will be hitting the to do list hard and creating lots of fun family memories!

Holy mustard walls batman!

Our dining room was a neutral khaki/tan color when we moved in and was not high on my priority list for paint. That hunter green carpet though, that was one of the first things on my to-do list. Can you blame me?

I found some valances on clearance at JCPenney before we moved in that I thought looked very Tuscan/Italian with red, green and gold stripes. The fruit themed decor that I had accumulated over the years also fit the Tuscan/Italian theme with the rich jewel tones.

I had planned on painting the room a golden yellow like that found in my valances and dining room decor. Well, on a recent trip to WalMart, I found a gallon of oops paint in a beautiful mustard yellow that I thought would be perfect for the dining room. I wasn't sure what my husband would think, so I left it and a quart of 1/2 price chalkboard paint behind. A few days later, I could not get the paint out of my mind and returned to the store. I was so excited to see that the mustard paint was still there, but alas, somebody had snatched up the chalkboard paint. My husband was not digging the mustard color, but I assured him that it would be fine. At $7.50 for the gallon, the worst thing that would happen would be that I would have to repaint the room if we didn't like it.
I finally got to painting the dining room the other night and the difference is incredible. The mustard color really accentuates the beautiful color of the wood trim, floors and furniture. It makes the room feel so cozy and warm.



Replacing the tile in the fireplace surround has also been on my to do list, but with the new paint it seems to blend so much better.

The paint does seem a bit bright and is kind of overwhelming on all four walls! I am thinking about doing a wash or a faux painting technique to give the walls more of a weathered look like the walls of a Tuscan villa. For now though, I am ecstatic to have banished another neutralized room for something that better fits our style!

Painting Baseboards

The baseboards and trim in our kitchen were so gross! There was some kind of glue along the bottom, probably from flooring that the previous owners had replaced. Besides being gross, with the cabinets painted white and the trim all dark wood, the trim really stuck out in a doorway in the middle of our kitchen. Sorry, I could not find any pictures of the kitchen that included this doorway before I painted!

I had some paint leftover from cleaning up the cabinets that I decided to put to use painting the baseboards and trim. I started by sanding the trim. I had to use a scraper on the larger globs of glue. Once all the trim was sanded, I swept and wiped down all of the trim with a wet cloth. After allowing it to dry, I painted several coats of the cabinet paint on all of the trim, allowing time to dry between each coat. Finally, I removed a vent from the floor and spray painted it white to match.



It looks so fresh and clean! Not to mention more open. The doorway used to be the first thing that you saw as you entered the kitchen and now it blends in beautifully with the cabinets and backsplash. It really makes me think about painting out the rest of the baseboards in our house. Though I would love to paint out the baseboards, there are things like the fireplaces, banister and window casings that I do not want to paint. Is it ok to paint some of the trim, but leave other pieces stained? I have seen a mixture of white and stained wood banisters and really like the look, but am not sure about painting all the baseboards in a room and leaving the rest of the trim stained. I feel like they are not relating to each other and therefore the room would look unfinished. What do you think?

Fall Freshening Up

The deck on our house is wonderful and we use it on a daily basis. The kids and I play and ride bikes on the deck everyday.


We also enjoy using the deck for entertaining our friends and family. Though we love to use the deck, it is a little worse for the wear. The railings are all peeling paint, many of the deck boards have popped up, and the floor is almost black with dirt. Over the summer I had planned on powerwashing and repainting the deck, but there was always some excuse to put it off. Finally last week, I pulled out a paint brush and the brown exterior paint the previous owners left in the basement and got to work on freshening up the deck. Here is a picture of the railing before:

A few hours later (the kids were constantly fighting and interrupting my work!) the deck looked so much cleaner and well-kept.

I attempted to clean the deck floor with some soap and water and a push broom, but it just made a mess out of the siding. I have decided to save that part of the project until I can borrow my FIL's power washer and do the job right! My husband also screwed down a few of the loose deck boards. Though it is still far from perfect, it is amazing how a few deck screws and a little paint could make such a big difference and help to camouflage some of the remaining imperfections!

9 rooms painted!

I finally painted the mudroom/pantry in our house this past weekend (it was on my summer to-do list, but I didn't actually get to it until school started up again! Go figure!). While cleaning up I realized that it was the 9th room I have painted since moving into our home. Here is a list of the rooms I have painted with links to any posts I have done on those rooms.

#1 Entryway
#2 Four Seasons Room
#3 Kitchen
#4 Living Room
#5 Main Bathroom
#6 Master Bathroom
#7 Craft Room
#8 Basement Bathroom
#9 Mud Room/Pantry

The room has undergone a complete transformation since we moved in. This picture shows how completely boring and cluttered/disorganized the room was when we first saw it.

The mudroom smelled terribly of dogs and cats. I believed that most of the smell was trapped in the red 70's carpet that covered the floor. I ripped that out soon after we moved in and replaced it with adhesive vinyl tiles. If you know me, you know that I absolutely love these things! I have used them in several of our houses. They are so easy to install and they have so many great looking options that are reasonably priced. This went a long way in freshening and brightening up the room. Though the walls were dirty and stained, there were several other more important things to tackle on my list than a room we barely used and nobody ever sees. Now that I am low on funds for any home improvement projects, I can only work on things that I have supplies on hand for. The paint for this room was leftover paint from the dining room which the previous homeowners had purchased to neutralize the space for sale. The room smelled instantly better and felt cleaner and more comfortable with the very first brush stroke!



Though nobody else sees this room, it is so nice to walk through this room to the garage daily and have it be clean, fresh and organized! It was great that the paint was free, but the house is starting to feel a bit bland! All but 4 rooms in the house are the same shade of tan. As soon as I have a little bit of money, I may have to pick out a really great color and get to giving this home a little personality!

Long absence!

Thanks to a horrible computer virus, I have been unable to use my computer for quite some time. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband, who tackled the virus head on not once, but twice and restored my computer to working order! Unfortunately, the break from my computer did not make me any more productive with the list of projects I have to do.
I did finally get inspired to finish up two little projects that have been bothering me for quite some time. I painted our living room a light cream color soon after we moved in, in November 2009. I just realized that I could have had a child in the time that it took me to get around to finishing this project! Our walls are textured and I painted the room in the middle of the night while the kids were sleeping. There is no overhead light, so I was painting with a small lamp for light. I packed everything up around 3am and thought that it looked pretty good. Upon inspecting the paint job in the morning with the sun shining brightly in all of the windows, I noticed a few areas that still had the previous mint green color showing through. Yuck! Fast forward to today and my husband and daughter were gone for the afternoon and my son was taking a nap. I pulled out the paint can, some tape and a foam brush. After taping off the baseboard (most of the visible spots were along the baseboard in the darkest corner) I mixed up the little bit of leftover paint with the foam brush and touched up the wall. My husband came home in the middle of this and exclaimed, "What are you doing now!?" When I explained to him that the spots were bothering me over the past 9 months or so he revealed that he hadn't even noticed them! We are so different in our approach to things, I am a complete perfectionist, while he just wants to get things done quickly and easily, and not necessarily right. Whether he noticed it or not, it definitely makes me feel better to have it done!
The second thing that I did was to add a second coat of stain to the baseboard in our master bathroom. When we originally refinished our master bathroom we bought new trim and tried to stain it to match the trim in the rest of the house. When the first coat of stain turned kind of dull grayish brown, I thought that we had the wrong color of stain and did not even attempt a second coat. The baseboards really bothered me because they did not match the doors and trim that we left in the room and did not stand out enough against the grayish wall color. Now the trim is closer to matching and really stands out against the wall color. I may have to use a coat of poly to get the shine/wet look that I like, but for now I love the difference that it made!
I have a few other small projects that I would like to share soon!